BJP leader and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was on Sunday sworn in as the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Union Territory of Puducherry.
She is the 22nd Lieutenant Governor since the merger of Pondicherry, which was a French Colony, with India.
Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh, senior-most Judge of Madras High Court administered the oath of office and secrecy at a brief function held on the lawns of Raj Nivas, the official residence of the Lt. Governor, here.
As per tradition, Chief Secretary Manoj Parida read out the warrant of President Pranab Mukherjee who appointed Ms. Bedi as the Lt. Governor.
Outgoing Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, Chief Minister-designate V. Narayanasamy, elected representatives, political leaders and top officials took part in the function.
Addressing the gathering, Ms. Bedi said, “We all visualise a prosperous Puducherry and we shall deliver this responsibility through three principal mantras, the first one being trust. This would mean working with integrity in all forms- financial, administrative and intention.”
“The second mantra is empowerment. This means enabling and enhancing optimum utilisation of resources while addressing concerns. It also means promoting self-reliance through training, mentoring and more. The third and final mantra is accountability. Not just to the people but also to yourself. It means implementing and promoting respect for the law,” Ms. Bedi said.
Ms. Bedi is the first woman in the country to have joined the officer ranks of Indian Police Service.
She served for 35 years and moved up to the highest rank, as Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
Ms. Bedi served as Police Adviser to the Secretary General in United Nations in the Department of Peace Keeping Operations in New York.
She is recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for bringing about a positive relationship between police and people. Ms. Bedi is Ph.D scholar from IIT Delhi with post doctoral Nehru Fellowship. She is author of books such as “I Dare”, “It’s Always Possible”, “Creating Leadership and more”
She has been running two non-governmental organisations which reach out to marginalised sections of society in education, skills development, in urban and rural areas including prison.
Ms. Bedi has around 10 million followers on social networks.
Corrections & Clarifications:
A previous version of this report had a sentence that quoted the former IPS officer as saying : “We all visualise a prosperous Puducherry and we shall deliver this responsibility through three principle mantras, …” It is principal, not principle.
